I guess the reason I liked the wreck of the Rhone was that it was a historical event, and that it sank in 35 to 85 feet. The many wrecks that I have dived that were intact, were sunk as artificial reefs, and that made them exciting to visit.
The first time I experienced the Rhone, I was diving with an operation located in Secret Harbor, St. Thomas. It was an entire day, to travel to Salt, Island, BVI, where the wreck is, dive the wreck, and travel back to St, Thomas. One interesting fact about our dive boat, was that it was the sister ship of the boat featured in the movie “Jaws.”
The wreck was amazing. There was so much marine life, especially at forty feet, the resting place of the aft part of the ship. The Rhone was a sail, and steam packet. It was three-hundred feet, and when she sank, the ship broke in half. The aft section, containing the steam condensers, which were, I think six-foot cubes, were scattered in thirty-five to fifty-feet deep. Each condenser was home to dozens of marine animals. The bow to the mid-section, sank in fifty to eighty-five feet, keel up. Many of the hull planks had disintegrated over time, so you could penetrate that part of the wreck, with a clear view to the surrounding water. “The Deep,” used footage of the bow portion in their film. It was a great dive, but I wanted more.
That next year I decided to spend a week diving on a live-a-board that was located on the Island of Tortola, BVI. Besides the many wonderful dive sites located there, we spent two entire days diving on the Rhone. Since we were anchored right next to the Rhone, we could dive whenever we wanted. I wanted to experience a sunrise dive, morning and afternoon dives, sunset dive, and of course, a night dive. Each dive gave me a chance to see different animals, in the same locations. The sunrise, and sunset dive allowed me to view and photograph the change from day to night. Of course, night dives are always magical.
There were two animal actions that I had a chance to experience. The first was to find an elusive resident on the wreck. We were told that once spotted it would disappear for the rest of the day. Undaunted, my buddy an I penetrated the bow section from midships. Even though the sun had just come up, we needed our dive lights inside. As we swam in about half-way, we noticed movement at the bow section, the deepest part of the wreck. We stopped, and settled on the sandy bottom. Coming toward and above us was an eight-foot Jewfish. It had to be five to six-hundred pounds. It passed over, and to the right of us, then found a place to escape, and disappear.
The second encounter was during a sunrise dive. The Rhone has a resident Barracuda, “Fang.” It’s about four-feet long, and very used to divers. On most of the dives we did on the Rhone, “Fang” would follow us, disappear for a while, and then join us again. On this particular morning dive, sure enough, “Fang,” was with us. As we proceeded diving, I noticed that he stopped, and was turning slowly in place. Then all of a sudden, in a split-second, like a shot, he was across about twenty-feet, cutting a fish in half, with those razor-sharp jaws. After he consumed one half, then he went back for the rest. Then having had breakfast, he very calmly came back to join our group.
Yes, those two days diving the Rhone were exhilarating. Unfortunately, I’ve read, that due to hurricanes, most of the wreck has been broken up, and the hull has collapsed. The two photos I have attached are the only ones that survived Katrina. One is in the wreck, the other a diver shot from below, near the wreck.
